More than 270 jobs to go as Tesco shuts five local stores - including two in Sheffield

The Tesco Metro store in Woodseats is closing

Published:13:14Updated:14:29Wednesday 28 January 2015

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More than 270 jobs are to be lost across the region as Tesco closes five stores - including two in Sheffield.

The company has revealed the names of the 43 ‘unprofitable’ stores it will be shutting around the country in the next couple of months.

In Sheffield, 50 jobs are to be lost through the closure of the Woodseats Metro store, while 24 people will be made redundant as a result of the Manor Express shop closing.

In Doncaster, the town’s superstore is to shut, resulting in the loss of 125 jobs.

The Mexborough Metro store is also going, with 55 jobs going. A Tesco Express in Worksop is also shutting, putting 18 people out of work.

The Express stores will close on March 15 and the Metros and the superstore will shut on April 4.

Across the country, around 2,000 people are losing their jobs.

In total, 18 Express, 12 Metro, seven superstores and six Homeplus stores are shutting their doors.

Dave Lewis, chief executive officer for Tesco, said: “In January I announced that our performance as a business has fallen significantly short of where we would want it to be and that to protect the future of the business in the UK we would close 43 unprofitable stores.

“The decision to close the stores has been exceptionally difficult to take. I recognise it will affect many hard working colleagues, our customers and local communities.

“Our priority is to explain what this announcement means for our colleagues and wherever possible, offer them alternative roles with Tesco. We will continue to serve our customers through other local stores and our dotcom service.”

The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) said the move is a hammer blow for workers.

Pauline Foulkes, Usdaw’s national officer, said: “This is devastating news for over 2,000 dedicated staff in the 43 Tesco stores across the UK, who have worked hard to make their shop viable during a difficult time for the company.

“We will now enter into full and meaningful consultation meetings on this proposal, where we will look closely at the company’s business case for the closures. Our priority is to maximise employment within Tesco, seek redeployment opportunities for members, where possible, and to keep job losses to a minimum.”

“We will support, advise and represent our members throughout this difficult period of uncertainty.”

Falling sales and profit warnings in the past two years resulted in Tesco announcing the store closures plan earlier this month.

It also shelved plans to open a further 49 new stores - including a new supermarket in Stocksbridge that had been due to create hundreds of jobs.

The store was designed to anchor a £42m retail, commercial and leisure complex at the Fox Valley site.

It was estimated that it would have employed around 250 staff and be a ‘major boost to employment’.

Developers behind the regeneration scheme said earlier this month they still intended to go ahead with the rest of the development, which will include 25 shops, offices, a café and restaurant, as well as new housing.

Mark Dransfield, managing director of Barnsley based Dransfield Properties, said at the time: “It does not in any way alter our plans to build and deliver this important regeneration scheme in Stocksbridge. The withdrawal of Tesco allows us now to look at a more diverse retail mix for the area.”

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